


Masterpiece

by TheWalrusAndTheCarpenter



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, edit: now with the summary I completely forgot to include first time around oops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-23
Updated: 2015-12-23
Packaged: 2018-05-08 13:18:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5498465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWalrusAndTheCarpenter/pseuds/TheWalrusAndTheCarpenter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While staying late after class to work on his current project, Garrett Hawke realises two things; that he gets incredibly flustered in the presence of cute guys, and that printmaking gouges are a lot sharper than they look.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Masterpiece

**Author's Note:**

> I'm just using the default Garrett Hawke for this. Just a heads up, he's always referred to as Garrett rather than Hawke because I feel like in this modern au the only person who call him that is Varric. Also, shy/nervous Hawke is adorable Hawke.

“Brother, what exactly is that supposed to be?” Bethany asked curiously, watching her brother work.

Garrett promised to meet her after classes finished but he ended up getting too absorbed in his printmaking piece for class, meaning that it was Bethany’s job to make sure her brother ate and took a break.

“It’s a dog Bethy!” He said using his U-shaped gouge to flake away bits of plywood around his design.

Moving over, she looked over her brother’s shoulder to get a better view. Well, there was definitely something carved out of the plywood that was for sure, however it being a dog was up for debate.

“Garrett, that’s a really weird dog. It looks more like a horse-dog hybrid.”

Garrett huffed and continued working; it looked like a dog to him. Okay, maybe the proportions were a bit off but it was easily fixable. He just needed to chip away a bit here and there.

After pulling up a stool to the table Garrett was sitting at, Bethany got out the sandwiches she had made. She placed one beside her brother, and began to slowly eat the other.

“Mother’s organising another dinner party.” She stated, to which her brother just grunted in acknowledgement. “Which means she’s probably going to try and set you up with another one of her friends’ daughters. You really should come out to her, and then maybe she’ll stop playing matchmaker for you.”

Ever since Garrett was young, his mother had tried to pair him up with her book club friends’ daughters. However hard she tried, none of the matches ever actually progressed further than a bit of awkward conversation. It wasn’t that the girls weren’t nice, they were all really friendly and sweet, but they were _girls_. And being gay meant that that wasn’t exactly something he was too interested in.

“I will at some point.” He replied. “I mean, I really should but then she’ll still keep setting me up but it would just be with guys. I’d rather find someone by myself, y'know?”

Bethany nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence. That was something that Garrett always appreciated, that he and his sister could just happily sit in silence and not feel the need to fill it with meaningless conversation about the weather.

Slowly, Garrett’s dog design was starting to take shape. A little bit longer and after adding a bit more detail he should be able to start printing with it.

Deciding it was time to take a break and that he had made good progress, he put his tools down and started to eat the sandwich Bethany had made for him. They then continued to chat about their lives and eat until Bethany had to leave.

“Don’t work too late Garrett.” She said before giving him a hug and telling him he needs to call Carver at some point.

“Bethy stop fussing, I’m nearly done. I’ll call Carver when he stops being an ass, I just don’t understand why he keeps picking fights with me all the time.” Replied Garrett as he finished off his food.

The younger sibling rolled her eyes, one day her brothers would see eye to eye but unfortunately that day wasn’t any time soon. Ever since they were kids all they ever did was bicker.

She wished Garrett luck on his art project before leaving. Garrett gave her a quick wave as she left before turning back to his work.

It was only the second time Garrett has ever tried printmaking, his previous attempt was rather impressive for a first time. But maybe that was because he only did patterns rather than an actual object or thing. You could mess up a pattern and nobody would notice, but people would notice if the tree you were carving out looked more like an erupting volcano than an oak.

He was just about to start working on the finer details when the door slammed open. The gouge slipped, slicing his hand as he jumped in surprise.

“Jesus Christ that stings!” He hissed under his breath, shaking his now bleeding hand in attempt to distract him from the pain.

He turned around to face whoever had flung open the door. Standing by the doorway on the other side of the room was a tall blond man with a tattered messenger bag, holding multiple boxes that were piled up and obscuring his vision.  That probably explained why the door was opened with such force, he couldn’t actually see where he was going.

“Do you need some help?” Garrett asked, moving over to help the blond with his boxes.

“O-oh thank you!” The man said as Garrett took half of the boxes.

Now his face wasn’t obscured, Garrett could get a proper look at the other man. The man was slim with stunning whiskey eyes and a really nice nose. Garrett concluded that he must be new because he would have definitely noticed someone so attractive walking around the art department before.

“No problem.” Garrett replied, placing the heavy boxes down on the nearest table. “What’s in these anyway?”

The man put down his boxes and smiled, “A whole lot of metal things. I finally gathered up enough screws, cans, and other little bits of metal to make this big sculpture I have planned but I guess I underestimated how much I had.”

“That sounds really cool,” Garrett said, running his hand through his hair and smearing blood on his forehead at the same time. “I’m Garrett Hawke by the way.”

The man in front of him froze and for a moment Garrett thought he had done something wrong.

“Uh I’m Anders, it’s a nickname but no one can pronounce my real name.” Anders smiled again but his eyes kept flicking to Garrett’s forehead. “Is that paint or blood?”

“Huh?” Garrett touched his forehead and it dawned on him that he must have wiped the blood from his cut on himself; he was too preoccupied to notice.

“Yeah, it’s probably blood.” he said casually, showing his sliced hand to Anders.

To Garret’s surprise, Anders took his hand and started to examine the wound. He didn’t have to be told to know that he was blushing already.

“How the hell did you do that?” The blond asked, looking back at him and still holding his hand.

“Uh… I slipped?” He didn’t particularly want to say that he slipped because of Anders’ entrance.

Anders nodded and turned his eyes back at the cut, he’s done similar things more times than he could count. He then let go of Garrett’s hand and began to rummage through his messenger bag. After a few seconds of searching, he pulled out a small green first-aid kit.

“And you just carry that around do you?” Garrett asked with a small chuckle.

Smiling, Anders took out a packet of wipes and some clean bandages. Taking Garrett’s hand again he began to slowly dab away the blood and clean the cut.

“It’s worth carrying around if it means I get an excuse to hold a handsome guy’s hand.” He said, pausing to look up and wink before returning back to cleaning Garrett’s hand.

Garrett went to speak but ended up stammering. Immediately, Anders stopped and took a step back.

“Oh God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to- I mean, I just thought… I didn’t know you’re-” Anders tried to apologise.

He should have known that Garrett was straight, Anders chastised himself, he shouldn’t have assumed like that.

“I’m not!” Garrett exclaimed and he could feel himself reddening again. “Straight, I mean. I just- I was just caught off guard. I’m sorry, I panicked. You’re hot and I panicked and I froze. Ugh can we start over?” He had to cut himself off before he began to ramble any more than he already was.

It suddenly dawned on Garrett that he called Anders hot, out loud and to his face. Apparently Anders also noticed it and raised his eyebrow. Thankfully, he didn’t mention it; instead he smoothly changed the subject.

“Garrett, you’re bleeding again.” Anders pointed out, smirking.

Garrett didn’t even get the chance to say anything as Anders started to clean his cut again. Once Anders was happy the gash was clean enough and he wouldn’t get an infection, he started to wrap Garrett’s hand with the bandage.

As Anders finished up bandaging, a small smile tugged at Garrett’s lips. “Thanks.”

Anders reluctantly let go of Garrett’s hand and spoke. “Now, the doctor’s orders are that you don’t go using any sharp objects any time soon… And that you meet me for dinner this weekend.”

He wasn’t too sure whether it was a bit forward to ask Garrett out so soon but as Isabela would tell him ‘you only live once Kitten, you might as well go for it’. Biting his lip anxiously, he waited for Garrett’s reply.

Anders didn’t have to wait too long because Garrett was already nodding by the time Anders had finished speaking.

“Sure, and maybe next time I won’t have blood smeared across my forehead.” Garrett said with a laugh.

The two smiled at one another for a moment before Anders glanced at the clock on the wall and swore quietly.

“I’m very sorry but I really must go, I can’t miss my bus.” Anders said while pulling out a scrap of paper and a pen from within his bag and then writing on it. “Here’s my number. Call me, okay?”

Even if he wanted to, Garrett probably wouldn’t have been able to stop grinning as he looked at the paper he was given. Evidently, it was infectious as Anders began to smile too, a large genuine smile that made his eyes light up and caused Garrett’s heart to skip a beat.

As he watched Anders pack away his first-aid kit, say a brief goodbye, and walk out to catch his bus, Garrett had to control his urge to call Anders immediately. He decided that that probably would come off as a bit too eager and so he just settled for adding Anders to his contacts.

Tomorrow, he told himself, he’d call tomorrow.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if this wasn't too great, I haven't been feeling great recently and I just kinda wanted to write something. I've already checked over this twice, but I'm going to check over it all again tomorrow. Apologies for any mistakes, I'm young and still learning!!
> 
> Also I know next to nothing about printmaking, the only sort of thing I've ever done like that was at primary school with polystyrene blocks and using pencils and string to make the actual stamp.


End file.
